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Old 10-24-2013, 02:36 PM   #56
hollywood8118
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City: Port Townsend Washington
Vessel Name: " OTTER "
Vessel Model: Ocean Alexander Europa 40
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,378
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigJim View Post
I will add my .02 to the generator Vrs wind power with a few things to consider.

Generators are noisy,smelly, they vibrate, consume fuel and require maintenance for their much higher Amperage output.

Wind generators output much less current, do not smell and do make a peculiar sound.

For me at a remote anchorage I would much prefer the sound of a WG to the sound and smell of an engine generator.

My estimate is that the WG may keep the house bank at or well above 75% of full charge.

My boat will have Propane cooking and Diesel heat.

So the electrical appliances I envision running while at anchor are; cabin, salon LED lighting, VHF, GPS, anchor lights, on demand pumps, alarm and status panels, AHU fan on demand. Well less than 10 Amps per hour. The WG could easily make this up.

The generator would be used to put a hard charge on the batteries as required.

/Flame on?
Unless your boat is sitting behind a very low wind break ... enough to shelter the boat from wave but not wind action most wind generators if averaged over a 24hr period do not put out enough amp hours to be worth the hassle. On a passagemaker ( sail ) it makes much more sense.. Personally I seek for more sheltered anchorage... I don't like to keep a anchor watch just to get the wind required to make enough energy.. by sitting out in the open unprotected. Many places have winds that are a direct result of the topography and the daily heat production of the earth and as such winds may drop to nothing at night ( the same period the solar panels are not doing squat ). Can they help with energy production.. sure depending on location. Here in the PNW in the summer it would make a great clothes rack and a place for the gulls to pearch and crap all over the boat. In the trades behind a low atol you bet... although that is where we had ours and it wasnt worth squat... except the pole did make a killer place to fly our flag.
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